Caught up with my reviews! Woo! Today is the last one for a while then June’s review, which I’ll post at the end of that month, will be Jordanna East’s ‘Blood In The Paint.’

R Huffman

Author: R Huffman
Title: Genesis
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 23,110
ISBN: 9781311769732‘Private Investigator Frank Soems is called to investigate when his twin godsons are kidnapped from the home of their adoptive parents. As Frank follows the twisty trail, his investigation will uncover the boys’ hidden past and lead to a shocking discovery.’

Werewolves. I luuuuuuuurve werewolves. Not as much as vampires – obviously – but I have a soft spot for these furry critters. An itch I don’t scratch often enough.

Cover:

I like this. It isn’t one of my favourite covers but there are elements to it that really enjoy.
There’s certainly no doubt in my mind over what shelf I’d find this book on and the tone of the colours and the images fits the book. I’m just not so keen on the font choice or the lad behind the fence. Something about it detracts from the power of the overall cover. Possibly because the story is about the missing twins? Not sure.

Story:

A PI learns that his godsons have been kidnapped and uses all of his old contacts, his wiles and brains to bring them home. Simultaneous to this, a mysterious young girl begins to question her existence and that of those around her.

It set up well. Particularly those first few chapters. I very much wanted to know what this girl was doing, who she was and how she got to be in this barren, clinical place. I was even interested in Frank (though something about the name ‘Frank’ just makes me think ‘old guy with a pot belly and a bald patch’) and his past. You don’t often find that sort of relationship in these books… godfather/godson I mean. It gives the story a very faint religious flavour (I thought it was only Christian denominations who employed godparents. Correct me if I’m wrong.) which, fortunately (as far as I’m concerned) didn’t impact the story in any way.

However…. towards the middle it seemed too… easy. Frank and his companions got where they wanted to be with no struggle. Things fell into place in a way that I wish my life would and allowed them to coast through the rest of the novella. Without giving anything away, how could he and his companions possibly get away so smoothly and easily if their cargo is so incredibly valuable? I just couldn’t make myself believe it.

Characters:

I think the werewolves were the most interesting of the lot. Their genuine confusion really came across and felt like a good representation of what one might feel in their situation.
Frank and his ‘team of rescuers’ had a slight edge of ‘oh it’s that guy’ syndrome. Ex military/police type who keeps his toes submerged in the world he wants belonged to, thus giving him a handy set of contacts.
Even the twin boys seemed to accept their lot pretty easily, which, considering what happened to them after the kidnap doesn’t ring quite true. They’re young, yes, but that, to me, means that their reaction would be stronger than, perhaps, mine. As an adult one handles things different to a teenager.
That’s just my two cents.

Overall experience:

A nice easy read. I think I gobbled this one up in a day and it was paced nicely to be able to do that; breaks in sensible places and chapters that didn’t stretch off into forever. Formatting was good as was the editing (why that’s such a big deal for me these days I don’t know :p) and I will, time permitting, follow up the rest of the series.
I’m hoping, since this first part of the ‘journey’ was so easy, that there will be more hardship to come. And also some ‘proper’ teeth-snapping, flesh-tearing werewolf action.

Final score:

Average across all scores is 3 stars.
Nice and easy.
It was my knee-jerk reaction to the piece (therefore comforting me in that this scoring system works well for what I’m trying to do) when I put it down and I stand by that.
I’ve not read very many werewolf books (not as many as I have vampire ones, anyway) but this one is certainly worth returning to. Yes, there were some things I might have changed or fiddled, but isn’t that always the way?
I’m going to wait until I have a chance to read the next one before I decide whether or not to abandon the series (trilogy?).

Nearly forgot this part of the post! Oops. Okay….

Since making the decision last week to start Walking The Razor’s edge I’ve been knocking out around 2,000 words a day. While this sounds great I’m not sure if the rest of the goals have suffered as a result, so, as ever, I’m going to go through my list a piece at a time.

Last Week

Resubmit my sci-fi story Love Bytes to another competition (I got the reject notification on Friday, so it’s time to find another potential home for it)
Forgot this too. Oh dear. o.O

START WRITING WALKING THE RAZOR’S EDGE (WTRE)
Yes, as I said above, this is what I’ve been doing all week. As of this morning I’m 11k into the first draft. I’m thrilled with that level of output, but a bit disappointed that other things have suffered. It’s all about balance, right?

So… I’d better start fiddling with those scales.

This Week

Edit my flash fiction piece

Resubmit my sci-fi story Love Bytes to another competition.

Continue working on WTRE, but only AFTER the other goals have been achieved

Haha. Writing like that should ensure that I get all three done without skimping.
Lovely.

How about you guys? It’s almost the end of the month, the start of June. Nearly half way through 2014 already. At the end of next month I’ll be assessing the year to date and adjusting my plans for the rest of the year. Are you working steadily towards your long and short term goals? Do any of yours need tweaking? Chat to me about it; putting your heads together is a great way to find answers and just see things from a different perspective. 🙂

Catch you next week! x

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About Ileandra Young

I'm a thirty-*mumbles* year old (purple loving, cheese worshipping) author of fantasy, juggling a pair of beautiful twin boys with my burning desire to make up stories and write them all down.
When I get the chance, I play games, listen to music, and in days long past I even ran a radio show.
Though I occasionally write non-fiction, my heart lives in fantasy and my debut novel, Silk Over Razor Blades is now available through Amazon along with part two of the trilogy, Walking The Razor's Edge.

Certainly this month hasn’t gone quite how I planned it. However, there’s still a little bit of the month left and now that I’m done chasing bugs on the site, I might as well make the best of that time.

My goals (not just writing goals) seem to be clearer now. Achieving them will another matter, though.

For example, I can set up appointments to speak to agencies about work, however that doesn’t guarantee a result in the next couple of weeks. Nethertheless I have to give it a try, because it’s much easier to date a lovely woman in another city if I happen to work there. 🙂

In comparison, writing is a simpler goal to advance, since I’m in control of much more of the process. On the other hand, there are still some refinements for me to make, and realistically I need to look for help with some parts of the process in the future, particularly cover design.

Certainly something to be said for a goal you have more control over. It can be far less stressful and feel more attainable if there are concrete steps you can take towards the end result. But, by their nature, not all goals are like that, so a good mix of the two is good.
I’m glad the goals are clearer; that is certainly the first step towards figuring out what to do next, right? 🙂